Why is the mass and myself jumping around about Google plus? It is all about how Google+ has differentiated it from Facebook. The difference is in terms of privacy, clean environment, easy of use, less clutter and more control. For the same reason many are thinking about dumping Facebook for Google plus.

However as with any social network or any service (within few days of launch) Google plus also has some drawbacks, or I would call them “lack” of certain features.

OK even though Google+ is “known” for being less annoying, people can still make it annoying enough for you to hate it (just as they did with Facebook). The only difference with people being here at Google+ and at Facebook is that, Google+ doesn’t have features that “encourage” such annoyances.

However, I can start to smell that stuff. Not all people are annoying at all times but some people are annoying at all times.

While you and me are now talking about the people who annoy us in Google+ and other social networks, for some person in the webosphere some of our activity may be annoying in Google+. Yeah, sometimes people may annoy others unknowingly too.

Be it for known or unknown reasons, irritating others in social media and networks will gravely injure our reputation. Since Google+ is new, shiny and known for being less annoying, I really want to put this message out. I don’t want it to become any nearer to Facebook.

Let me tell you some basic things that ought to be avoided in order to be less annoying in Google+.

Nowhere is safe from SPAM:

No place online is free from spam. Spam takes different forms at different contexts and times. So with the Google+ “mania” that’s up now, I am pretty much sure that there will be spam here too in some form (or there it is already!).

Now, I am not asking you to start a protest against spam in Google+. But you can do your bit to keep Google+ clean and also make it a point that you don’t annoy your friends or make their stay unpleasant in Google plus.

Curiosity not only kills the cat, but also its friends. So if you are curious to share a lucrative link, make sure it is safe to do so.

Report any form of SPAM to Google. Or at least alert your friends about it.

Bullying & Harassing:

Social media are like open platforms for bullying and harassing others. Even though there could be privacy policies with social media sites, it is really hard to decide which kind of bullying “fits in” to be accused of.

Some people have this as a hobby and merely join social sites to do this. While we can identify these kind of people somehow, it is hard to take bullies and harassment from decent people who claim to run online business. I have already sensed a couple of those myself.

By all means, make sure “your friend” or the person you are communicating with is happy with what you are sharing with him/her. If you are not sure, then please don’t share stuff.

Don’t add someone to your circle (so that they will add you) and send out a dating request. Unless you know the other person already, or if he/she has the same feelings (as you know of), if you do this you are seriously annoying the person.

Avoid usage of slangs and profane language if you have to disagree with someone.

Don’t share questionable videos, photos or links unless the person is your friend and you know well that he/she likes that kind of stuff!

Soft Sell:

If your mission on Google+ is for promotion or selling, then your ultimate strategy should be soft selling. Don’t punch on people’s faces with your products/services and updates. You will only annoy people but won’t make a sale for sure.

Don’t share everything:

You may find hundreds (or thousands) of things interesting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your friends will also be interested in those stuff.

Before you press the share button, make sure you are selecting the right circle/person. And ask to yourself if you really need to share it.

Don’t tag everyone:

Tagging people with +username is an awesome feature to get people involved in discussions. It is pretty much the same as Facebook tagging. So it is really sad that people have started using the tags just as they were using it on Facebook.

Irrelevant taggging, is what I talk about. I get about a handful of notifications everyday that someone has tagged me. When I eagerly visit the post to see what it is, it really annoys me.

They share a photograph of their pet and tag 30 people’s name to that. Gosh!

Final words….

You know, everyone who has joined Google+ love it for the sake of its simplicity and much less spam. Especially the absence of game requests and friendship requests.

But with the rise of annoyances it seems that Google+ may also be corrupted soon. Please do your bit to keep it clean. And, don’t miss the Facebook humor!

For those of us who jumped into social media a bit late, Google+ was not exactly an introduction that we were jumping all over. I’ve got the feel for Facebook (many of it’s positives and drawbacks), just getting the hang of Twitter and still haven’t quite figured out LinkedIn.

Hey Clint, I know what you mean. It surely will take time to figure out what all these social places mean and what they will do for you. Sometimes you will finally found out that some are just waste of time

Hi Jane, I agreed with you about your view on how Google+’s users are making use of the service in the wrong way. I think we just need to keep on reporting those poeple that keeps on doing such a thing. Thank God, Google plus is a straight-forward social site, it has features that enables users to report people as SPAMMERS and I don’t see any reason why we won’t let google know about someone who engages in spamming it.

Yes that is annoying. But you can only send emails when they are not yet in google+. If they are already in plus your updates will only go to their stream. So it is better not to tick the “also email # people who have not joined Google+” thing.

I have today joined Google+ today. The most attractive feature for me security feature.I am sure within some months we will read a news a facebook has lost a lot users and after this we will read that facebook has launch some new feature.

My first experience with Google plus was being added to circles by strangers and being begged to video chat. Worse is that the strangers would post constant streams of worthless content. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many people in my circle to fill my stream, I hope that changes. I do enjoy the G+ system and hope that they are successful with their venture as Facebook and their manipulations have worn thin with me.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have many people in my circle to fill my stream, I hope that changes.” – I think you made a typo… it should have been “fortunately” LOL. Having less number of people in your circles keeps your streams clean and you don’t have the trouble in differentiating the good ones from the spam

Indeed, the Google + provides a very great opportunity for sales and promotion and I have seen great feedbacks about it. And you’re right, although it is such a great potential for any business, it will soon become corrupted if we don’t do our part to keep it clean.

Extreme John is in my friend list in Google + . According to me Google + is good media for business promotion but none of the blogger has talked about the links from Google +,either they are helpful for ranking of a site or not.

I just stepped in the Google+ arena… I’m basically just sitting there… kinda like I did on twitter. i joined twitter and forgot about it. Years later when i tried to join twitter, I discovered I was already on it! maybe this will work out the same way… I just don’t have all the time others seem to have…

I’d like to think I’m not annoying on Google+ because I hardly ever use it. I really don’t like it, actually.

That said, I’d say that a social network is only as good as the friends we put in it, like you said. So long as we actually want them in our circles, it should be good. Like you are saying, most people don’t think they are being annoying but I would challenge people to really consider exactly why they are joining yet another social network, and whether or not it’s really just so they can keep on sharing their stuff in more places or not.

Hi,
Nice post here!
I found out about google+ through a facebook share LOL, which said “google+, a wink to facebook”. I couldn’t join as it was invite only. Two days later, got an invite and joined up. I just love it, plain and simple and the best part is I’ll get to see it grow! I love the features (not all set up though). And true, it might not get as annoying as facebook!!

Google + has already gained a huge amount of users. Its just a few weeks and more than 18 million users have already joined this social networking site. After it really starts functioning, it will be good to see how it competes with Facebook.

Hi Shree yes as with the numbers it seems that G+ is soaring so higher than Facebook and has broken the record. For that matter and with the craziness that people has started using and customizing it, it is already competing a lot with FB!

I’ve been looking into Google+ in more depth the past 48 hours myself. The more I use it the more I fall in love with it. It’s not perfect, but it’s still quite new and I’m sure it will only improve more over time. Like you say a lot of it is what we make of it too, by doing our part we can all participate in making it a better service.

What an ADORABLE picture!! I don’t know if I’ve really done any of these since I don’t do very much at all with my new Google+ account, but thank you for laying them out like this – I will definitely be keeping them in mind for the future if I keep my account!!

I have a G+ account but I didn’t personalize my profile or add friends and that’s because I didn’t feel it at that day. But now I think I’ll go there and use it properly. This little guide will be a real help.